SIFF!!! WEEK 1 of FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

SIFF is now in full swing.  Here's what I've been viewing.

STORIES WE TELL---Canadian actress/director (AWAY FROM HER) Sarah Polley's newest film is a docudrama about her own family history, which provides more secrets than you can imagine, and they keep coming, right up to the end, in this warm, surprising, intelligent film.     GRADE-----A-

MIDDLETON---a familiar US comedy, with two middle aged parents meeting cute at a college campus (beautifully filmed at Gonzaga University in Washington state) after bringing their respective kids for a "visit the campus/faculty" day, and naturally, they start to fall in love.  Vera Farmiga and Andy Garcia are both charming, and the rest of the cast, including the kids (Farmiga's kid sister plays her daughter) and other staff (including Tom Skerrit and Peter Riegert) all have their moments. If this is your thing, then you will enjoy this film.     GRADE-------B-

Gothic vampire melodrama, BYZANTIUM is British director Neil Jordan's return to the subject matter after a nearly 20 year break (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 1994)---in the mean time he has made some great films (END OF THE AFFAIR 1999, MICHAEL COLLINS 1996) and he won a writing OSCAR for THE CRYING GAME 1992.  This new film looks great, and has an unusual twist--the main characters are women, one a perpetual 16 year old virgin and her mother, who was a harlot when she was transformed.  The story is complex and interesting, the effects are creepy, and the production is stylish.  For those interested in such films, BYZANTIUM is a thrill.  GRADE-------B

BEFORE SNOWFALL is a film coming from  Norway and Germany, but telling the story of a young Kurdish Iraqi who is trying to track down his runaway sister, and he plans to kill her because she has "dishonored" his family by avoiding a forced marriage to a rich villager.  As he follows her to Germany and then to Norway, he meets some interesting people and finds love himself.  The film  is suspenseful and intense and the ending--not what you might expect-- is harrowing.     GRADE---B+

INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR is actor James Franco's experimental film about trying to recreate the missing 45 minutes of sex scenes cut from the controversial William Freidkin film CRUISING (1980) which featured Al Pacino as an undercover cop looking for a homosexual serial killer.  This vanity production is trying to make the point that straight people (the actor portraying Pacino is a dead ringer and quite effective in a "deer in the headlights"  situation) have a prejudicial aversion to gay sex and characters.  The film includes sex and nudity and lots of discussion.  The effect is an uneasy mixture of exploitation (his lead is fascinatingly exploited) and "WHAT THE HELL" moments.  Better luck next time, James.       GRADE------C+

KEY OF LIFE from Japan is an amusing comedy of mistaken identity involving a hit man with amnesia, a suicidal unemployed actor, and a woman seeking to get married within her vacation month, but first she has to meet the right man.  It's wacky and clever at times.     GRADE ----B

PIETA is a Korean "extreme" film, very violent and nasty, about a man who works in collections for a loan shark  He  cripples those who cannot pay back loans, so that they get insurance money to then pay him back.  Early in the film a strange woman enters his life claiming to be his mother who deserted him at birth.  She puts up with his hatred and indignities, and slowly he begins to change.
It's a depressing, disgusting film to watch at times, but it's hard to turn away, and will probably linger in my mind for far to long.       GRADE-------B

YELLOW--Director Nick Cassavetes over the top, bizarre film about a far to sexually glamorous substitute teacher who is addicted to pain killers (she's continually popping) and sex (group sex and sex with a dad during parent's night!).  She finally returns to her rural home to confront a cesspool of family problems and insanity situations.  The film breaks into songs, animation, satire, drama, comedy and pathetic mind trips indiscriminately.  It's a messy film, but much like watching a train wreck---hard to look away.      GRADE-------B-

MY DOG KILLER is from Czech Republic.  A day in the miserable life of 18 year old Marek, who has his father and skin head friends all yelling and bossing him around, and his pit bull dog constantly barking, as he goes about his business.  Unfortunately, the camera work is rather busy, and their are long long tracking shots of the back of his head as he walks through a vineyard, or down a street.  If the lazy do nothing shots were removed, this would be a short 15 minute feature.     GRADE---C+

THE PUNK SINGER is a documentary about punk grrll rocker and pioneer Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) and it is well made and informative.       GRADE----B

Fine Norwegian film MERCY concerns a tragic accident and how it affects the marriage of the main characters as well as the small town they live in.  Thoughtful and beautifully filmed, but could have used a little trimming in length.    GRADE-----B+